The Bombay High Court has again questioned the Central Bureau of Investigation’s sincerity in the alleged fake encounter case of Sohrabuddin Shaikh, Tulsiram Prajapati and Kausar Bi. Justice Revati Mohite Dere is hearing the CBI’s challenge to the discharge of certain police officers in the said case. Apart from the CBI, deceased Sohrabuddin’s brother Rubabuddin has also challenged the discharge of senior police officers who were accused in the case. The court is hearing the pleas challenging the discharge together on a day-to-day basis. PTI reported Justice Dere as saying: “Is it not the CBI’s responsibility to ensure that its witnesses are protected so that they can depose against the accused fearlessly? Considering that several witnesses have turned hostile before the special CBI court, are you providing any protection to them? Your responsibility does not end simply at filing the charge sheet. It is your duty to protect your witnesses.” These questions were posed at ASG Anil Singh, who is appearing for the CBI in the matter. What made these observations even more significant was the fact that two more witnesses had turned hostile and refused to support the CBI’s case in the Special CBI Court which is the conducting the trial. When ASG Singh sought time for filing a reply to the Court’s queries, Justice Dere said: “You cannot be a silent spectator. I am not getting the kind of assistance that I should have been getting from the CBI. If this is your attitude, then why are you… [Read full story]

Practice of sending letters asking court to recuse itself is despicable: Bombay HC sentences contemnor for 3 months imprisonment.We deprecate this practice of sending such letters, asking the Court to recuse itself. This practice is not only depreciable but is also despicable and needs to be curtailed, the Bench said.Bombay High Court has sentenced a person for three months imprisonment for Contempt of Court by abusing, insulting, intimidating and threatening a Metropolitan Magistrate. Division Bench comprising of Justices R.M. Dere and V.M. Kanade also observed that the practice of sending letters to the Court, asking to recuse itself is not…... [Read more]

As reported earlier, the Bombay High Court has quashed and set aside the media gag order by special CBI judge SJ Sharma dated November 29 and held that subordinate courts did not have such inherent powers to pass such an order.In the 39-page judgment published yesterday on the high court website, Justice Revati Mohite Dere held that it is only the ‘courts of record’, i.e., the Supreme Court and high courts that have the inherent jurisdiction to pass postponement orders. Open trial is a rule Senior advocate Mihir Desai appeared for one of the petitioners in the matter and submitted…... [Read more]

A division bench of Justices Ranjit More and Shalini Phansalkar Joshi of the Bombay High Court pulled up the Maharashtra government for delaying the decision regarding grant of compensation to rape, acid attack and child abuse victims under the Manodhairya Scheme retrospectively. The bench is hearing a PIL filed by father of a rape victim.Under the said scheme, the state government had decided to pay a maximum compensation of Rs three lakh to rape victims and other women who are victims of violence against them. Manodhairya Scheme was launched on October 2, 2013, it envisages compensation as well as rehabilitation of rape survivors…... [Read more]

Taking a tough stance on ‘sharks’ who prey on helpless unemployed youth, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court has refused to grant anticipatory bail to one Ramesh Bapurao Rangari, who has been accused of defrauding a boy by taking money from him in promise of a job.Justice VM Deshpande was hearing an anticipatory bail application filed by Rangari.Applicant’s lawyer AR Wagh submitted his client’s willingness to withdraw the application after the court did not seem to be inclined to allow the application. But the court refused and observed: “Normally, the court accepts such requests and grant permissions to…... [Read more]

Rejecting the bail application of one of the accused in the killing of a 15 year old Swapnil Sonavane, Justice Sadhana Jadhav of the Bombay High Court observed that honour killings are reflective of a barbaric society and has no place in a civilised one.Swapnil Sonavane was in love with a girl. They were in a relationship. As recorded in the order, the girl’s parents did not approve of her relationship with Swapnil as he belonged to a different caste. Swapnil was assaulted by the girl’s brother Sagar and other boys on July 18, 2016. He was later taken to…... [Read more]